( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

is it just a florida thing

they put orange juice everywhere you gotta do something with the stuff but personally i think it's inappropriate for basketball

gotta get williams off of siakam

gotta give it up for toronto's late game d

man this is tennnnse

it's a fucking war

MAHHHCUS SMAAAHHHT

this could have been so much easier with some of those fts

or 3pts

getting killed by offensive rebounds in crunch time is the worst way to lose

what a play by tatum

oh gosh van vleet dribbling that whole possession into a garbage shot it's just not what ya want

incredible possession from the best coach in the league nick "nurse" nurse

he was totally bottled up by jaylen and then grant held up on the switch

i mean lowry being out of the game is massive, you get to shift a lot of resources to van vleet and as much as i like him he's not a #1 guy

ilh might be the only place in the bball world that would've predicted a heat-celtics east final

does this count as an ilh bowl i forget if we have enough heat fans or if its just j0rdan

i had toronto going to the chip and losing, good on the celts

that was an awesome series

yeah good series, raptors never put together a particularly convincing performance though whereas the celtics had a couple

does this count as an ilh bowl i forget if we have enough heat fans or if its just j0rdan

― ciderpress, Friday, September 11, 2020 11:51 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

remember daniel esq lol

lol yes! i hope that guy is doing well and enjoying this heat run.

gnarly series toronto defense was insane

fred van vleet is a likable player who i have begun to dislike via him being over hyped because hes likable

Game-saving defense from Grant Williams: pic.twitter.com/LKbNUPngz8

— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) September 12, 2020

For the first time in NBA history, the Eastern Conference Finals will NOT feature a No. 1 or No. 2 seed!

that's wild

da bubble baby

like 75% of the layups van vleet took this series were pure prayers

yeah, van vleet sucks at the rim.

and he shouldn't iso on anyone. he's a good catch and shoot guy and like a third option on offense.

Please note: Meyers Leonard has now led** two different teams to their conference finals in consecutive years!

**if one weights intangible contributions from the bench very heavily

is his name a reference to meyer lemons

does this count as an ilh bowl i forget if we have enough heat fans or if its just j0rdan

― ciderpress, Friday, September 11, 2020 11:51 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

remember daniel esq lol

― lag∞n, Friday, September 11, 2020 11:02 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol yes! i hope that guy is doing well and enjoying this heat run.

― call all destroyer, Friday, September 11, 2020 11:03 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i follow him on twitter, hes v psyched abt the heat

aw thats nice he kept up with them

"It's time to leave this motherfucker."- Kyle, on the bubble

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) September 12, 2020

I usually tune in for the fourth quarter, but I was determined to watch most of last night's game from the start. I got disheartened early on and switched off, missing the one stretch where the Raptors apparently played really well (their 24-9 run to take the lead), otherwise saw most of it.

For a close game, it was ugly and not very satisfying. The Raptors really had no business being so close at the end. Boston seemed determined to keep them in the game, but even when they missed those late free throws, Toronto continued to throw the ball away.

gnarly series toronto defense was insane

The one area where Toronto was legitimately impressive. They really swarm the opposition when they need to.

oh gosh van vleet dribbling that whole possession into a garbage shot it's just not what ya want

I mentioned something similar in the finals thread last year, before he became a hero: his maddening habit of dribbling into traffic around the basket seemingly without any plan or purpose.

I'm not sure what to make out of Siakam. (Lots of blame to go around last night besides him.) I don't know if it was a specific match-up thing, or if he's just not as good as everyone had come to believe.

Jayson Tatum is really great.

siakim just doesnt have #1 scoring option skills its kinda crazy he averaged 23 in the regular season not sure how he did it but he got exposed in the playoffs, as we saw last year he would be great as a second option/all around player

Lowest 3P% In A Playoff Series - NBA History*

1. Pascal Siakam, 2020 ... 12.5%
2. Jason Kidd, 2004 ........ 14.7%
3. Dame Lillard, 2015 ........16.1%

*min. 30 3PA, 691 qualifying performances pic.twitter.com/JVsd95fFzL

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) September 12, 2020

I really enjoy the twitter thing where people say Tatum is terrible and you can’t tell if they’re serious

W/r/t the van vleet thing: sometimes you get clamped! Amazing defense by Brown and Williams on that play. Btw I still see people say that Brown’s “team defense” is bad and people need to get out of town with that talk!

siakam’s power drive and spin move game got him a lot of buckets in the reg season and it never felt like something that would work against serious playoff defense—he’s not *that* big or explosive.

i wonder if the raps would take demar back

you know who had a stealth great series was the two headed monster of Theis/Williams; they really haven't missed Horf in the playoffs

centers are the running backs of the NBA

i know it’s rude and i don’t want to belabor the point but in a quiet moment earlier today i did take a step back and think about how the sixers basically handed the eastern conference finals to two of their chief rivals

Should be a great series, slightly leaning towards Miami for a pick simply because they have so many more competent NBA players on their active roster (I’m assuming Hayward is not coming back?). I know rotations shrink in the playoffs but I think Miami’s strategy should just be to send waves of dudes at the Celts and hope over the course of seven games you wear them down. Much as I hate Boston sports franchises in general I have to admit these guys have been amazing so far esp Tatum, Brown, Smart and Coach Stevens.

Hayward's likely coming back but i hope to god they have him coming off the bench as a shooter and not starting, Smart has been such fun to watch.
https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/09/boston-celtics-gordon-hayward-is-expected-to-return-vs-miami-heat-exact-date-remains-uncertain.html

Heat v Celtics ought to be great. Stevens is certainly a top five NBA coach and Spoelstra has taken teams to the Finals and won, so even the coaching match up will be between very accomplished coaches.

i have... limited interest in watching an LA/LA matchup? am i wrong? get me excited.

Bron v Kawhi in the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 finals

also if the lakers win i start trolling the internet with my 'actually danny green is the most important player now' takes